Illustra PUGs Karazhan, Nabs T4 Gloves
Illustra was lurking on the LFG channel last night, investigating the various groups looking for members. As usual, I checked the Karazhan channel, as my save hadn’t been used yet this week. A Warrior named Tokimo was in the channel, with an elaborate message that stated a Warlock was needed for “tonight’s Kara run”. I was intrigued, so I said I’d be available for a run, and available for as long as necessary. Tokimo agreed, and said we’d be running from 8PM to about 2AM. Awesome.
Tokimo and most of the others in the PUG are from a small guild called Deadly Intent. Checking back in my records (chronicled here at this site), I’ve run with Milye, a holy Priest from this guild. Skills seemed solid, so my impression of the guild through its members has been good thus far. Tokimo said that most of the group has seen early Karazhan, although they’re still new. The goal was to get through Shade and Chess…maybe a crack at Prince. They were happy to have me along, as I would enable a more reasonable attempt at the Illhoof fight.
We started pretty much at the appointed time, which was nice. The interesting thing about this PUG is its composition. There was a single Priest (Milye), and four Paladins. They have a protection Paladin (Syman), a retribution Paladin (Mizanna), and a holy Paladin (Caffelatte). Another holy Paladin (Angellica of the Mysterious Misfits) was along as part of this PUG. Tokimo and Syman would be the tanks, with a feral Druid (Aillwind) in cat form and tank-in-reserve. Rounding out the DPS crew would be myself (affliction Warlock), Airamus (fire Mage), and Bolyen (Hunter). Altogether, a very rounded group.
We quickly cleared through to the first boss fight. The first attempt on Attumen was disappointing for me, because Attumen was never picked up…a major mistake. I watched as he ran through our clothies, one-shotting them each. Me included. The appointed tank never saw him, never picked him up. The second attempt was perfect…as it should have been all along. Attumen dropped the Steelhawk Crossbow (needed by Bolyen) and the Handwraps of Flowing Thought (needed by Airamus).
We cleared very quickly and efficiently to Moroes. The patrolling elites were basically chained to improve clearing speed. I was disappointed with the AoE fights, because I expect the Paladins (we had 2 in each group) to be on the ball with the proper auras. I expect Devotion Aura and Retribution Aura for single pull or double pull fights…but Devotion Aura and Concentration Aura for AoE pulls. For these pulls, I didn’t have the benefit of Concentration Aura at all.
I’ve never attempted Moroes without 2-3 Priests in the group, as their shackles are necessary to contain the adds. We used a single shackle in the Moroes fight…the other three were burned down as quickly as possible (which seemed an eternity to me). The mana-drainer was the second to go down, and I wonder how much mana damage she was able to accomplish while we were burning down the healer add.
No dwarves were present in the group, but we had four Paladins available to shield and heal as needed. Moroes was burned down by the DPS classes…the fight took 6 minutes and 46 seconds. That is a good amount of time for Moroes. Moroes dropped the Edgewalker Longboots (needed by Aillwind) and the Crimson Girdle of the Indomitable (needed by Syman).
We cleared towards Maiden…I got a chance to get some banish duty in. With so many Paladins eligible for cleansing, I figured we’d have an easy time attempting Maiden. The Maiden of Virtue fight went well, but we were victorious on the second attempt. I was a little uncomfortable with the position-jockeying of the tanks and Maiden…normally I like to see Maiden tanked in a stationary spot (the exact center of the room). Nevertheless, we downed her in 2 minutes, 59 seconds. The Maiden of Virtue dropped the Bands of Nefarious Deeds (needed and won by Illustra) and the Mitts of the Treemender (Angellica won the shard).
The group was making decent time, and we cleared towards the Opera event. Maybe this is how they normally do it, but mobs were being tanked in the spotlight. On every other occasion I’ve been through here, conscious efforts are made to keep mobs out of the spotlight…but to each his own. Tonight’s Opera event was…Romulo and Julianne. Tokimo did a quick explanation for the group, and we started. I tried to keep my mana managed as best as I could…I thought I was burning too quickly during the first phase (Julianne only). The healing was great, the aggro management was great…phase 3 came, and things were doing well. With this group, the leader called out percentages on both bosses, and DPS was spread between them. We tried keeping them at similar health levels, and it worked out well (surprisingly!). We killed Julianne first, and then Romulo very quickly after. Romulo and Julianne dropped Despair (needed by Mizanna) and the Beastmaw Pauldrons (disenchanted). The fight lasted 5 minutes, 56 seconds.
Encouraged by these victories, we cleared the money mobs on the way to the Curator. As we pulled and cleared Arcane Anomaly and Syphoner packs, we had back-to-back drops…Grips of Deftness (disenchanted) and Design: Glinting Noble Topaz (Caffelatte won the free roll).
And then at last, the Curator fight. Again…a new experience for me. Outside of the tank, we had 2 Paladins and a feral Druid…that’s a lot of melee DPS. So we used the bunching strategy…we all bunched up on one of the diamond patterns. I brought some of the Major Arcane Protection Potions; I ended up using 3 over the course of the fight. The DPS to the flares was good through the first two Evocations…we got behind a bit and had 2-3 flares up before the third Evocation. We were persistent, healing was good, my mana conservation was decent, and we burned him down. The fight lasted 7 minutes, 20 seconds. The Curator dropped Gloves of the Fallen Hero (needed on and won by Illustra) and the Wrynn Dynasty Greaves (needed by Syman).
Deadly Intent is a very generous guild…they permit everyone who needs an item to express interest on it. Rolls from those who haven’t yet received an item get priority. In the case of the Gloves drop…we had 1 Hunter, 1 Mage, and 1 Warlock. And we had each received an item…so free roll for all 3 of us on the Gloves. My 83 cleared the rolls of the others. Tier 4 Gloves for me! I’m very grateful.
Bolstered by a one-shot to the Curator, we had a quick break and continued. We quickly and efficiently cleared to the Shade of Aran’s chamber. Deadly Intent had never cleared Shade before…he was their point of contention. They had done Curator and Chess, had attempted Nightbane and Illhoof, but had never actually beaten Shade. The fight was a good one. I did everything I could as a Warlock. I got off a Banish and a Fear during the elementals phase. I provided Healthstones and advised their use after the polymorph. I provided a constant stream of DoTs and Shadowbolts to the Shade. We ended up dropping him in one shot. The fight lasted 6 minutes, 1 second…a breakthrough for Deadly Intent. The Shade of Aran dropped the Boots of the Incorrupt (disenchanted) and the Pendant of the Violet Eye (needed by Airamus).
It was around this time, the wonderful Ysera servers were having issues. Four members of the group were disconnected, and login issues were popping up. After 45 minutes of waiting and trying different things, messages from Blizzard appeared at the login screens. Tokimo and Caffelatte elected to call it for the evening, and try again the next day. So…I missed out on free badges at Chess, and the opportunity to help the group on the four remaining bosses. Oh well, a great run for Illustra this week!
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